John Otis

John Otis, CPJ's Andes correspondent for the Americas program, works as a correspondent for Time magazine and the Global Post. He authored the 2010 book Law of the Jungle, about U.S. military contractors kidnapped by Colombian rebels, and is based in Bogotá, Colombia.

2013

With its low budget décor and grainy images, EUTV has the look and feel of small-town community television. But the Web-based TV station that went live on November 18 has much larger ambitions: It intends to be the primary source for Venezuelans who covet independent television news.

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The concept of network neutrality holds that all Internet traffic should be treated equal and that Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, should serve as free-flowing gateways for information rather than as filters. But in politically polarized Venezuela, neutrality is an increasingly rare commodity and now ISPs are feeling the heat.

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Amid skyrocketing
inflation and shortages of basic goods, Venezuelan authorities claim that an
"economic war" is being waged against the socialist government of President
Nicolás Maduro. The government is striking back by forcing stores to discount
prices, by arresting business owners accused of hoarding--and by targeting
journalists trying to cover the grim economic news.

During his 14 years in power, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez tried to muzzle critical news organizations. Chávez died in March, but the pressure on Venezuela's remaining independent media outlets is only getting worse under his successor.

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Bolivia's loss of territory along the Pacific coast during a
19th-century war with Chile remains an extremely sensitive issue in
the landlocked nation. Every March 23, patriotic "Day of the Sea" ceremonies
mark the calamity, which Bolivia hopes to reverse through a lawsuit
filed this year against Chile at the International Court of Justice.

Reporting
from Catatumbo, a region in northern Colombia dominated by guerrillas and drug
traffickers, has always been challenging. But working conditions for
journalists have seriously deteriorated amid nearly two months of
anti-government protests pitting thousands of angry peasant farmers against
soldiers and riot police.

A Colombian TV news director, who
oversaw hard-hitting political coverage in central Antioquia department, resigned on June 28 after his editorial
meeting was secretly recorded and used by politicians to push for his ouster.

That's how Juan Carlos Calderón, editor of the newsmagazine Vanguardia, described the June 28
closing of the newsweekly that for eight years published hard-hitting
investigations about public officials and faced frequent government harassment.
Yet the final days of Vanguardia were
almost as controversial as its stories.

After inspecting a hydroelectric project in
northern Ecuador last year, President Rafael Correa complained about the scant
press coverage of his visit and suggested it was part of a media blackout. "Did
the Ecuadoran media conspire to ignore this important event? It seems like that
is the case," Correa told the crowd at a
town hall meeting. "In this country, good news is not news."

Nine days after the pro-opposition TV station
Globovisión was sold to businessmen rumored to have close ties to the
Venezuelan government, the station's new leader was welcomed to Miraflores
Palace for a cordial sit-down with President Nicolás Maduro.